“Despite making it clear that I identify as female, legally changing my name has no effect on the ‘legal’ gender status that the government imposes upon me.”
Illustration: Kirsten Ulve for Guardian US Opinion

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” reads the oft-quoted line from Martin Luther King.

I am a young trans woman. And I can attest to the “long” part, but I hope the bend toward justice will soon become more pronounced.

The fight for justice for the transgender community is largely invisible to our fellow citizens, despite the rampant systematic discrimination of trans people – those whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Unfortunately, it seems to me that when it comes to issues affecting the trans community, most people who are cisgender – a word describing those people whose gender identity is in alignment with the sex they were assigned at birth – focus too much on the administrative, legal and medical aspects of trans identity. Such a focus on these institutional definitions of gender is constricting, and too often it leads to difficult obstacles for most trans people.

Take something as basic as obtaining photo identification. Many people need photo ID for their workplace. You need one to drive, you often need one to vote – especially with many US states passing disenfranchising “voter ID” laws.

For many in the trans community, just applying for basic identification documents is a hostile experience. You’re told you don’t belong because you don’t fit into one of the tiny boxes offered by the system. And for those of us in the military, this civil rights violation of trans people’s basic identity is downright life-threatening.

In the United States, the UK and most of Europe, there are only two options available for gender designation on government-issued identification documents: male and female. As a result, trans people are assumed to have a gender that aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth – that is, male for trans women and female for trans men – and those not conforming to either of those choices are assumed not to exist. So trans people are forced to either use a document that does not reflect their identity or to spend the time, effort and money necessary to alter such records. Both situations are frustrating, embarrassing and can expose us to humiliation, ridicule and even violence.

Despite bureaucratic assumptions, we exist.

How can trans people change a system to which we don’t even have access?

The challenges that trans people are forced to navigate – even in accessing identification, but in so much more – are the result of institutional bias that favors cisgender people and assumes that trans people are deviant. When your own government’s policies send a message that you don’t exist – or that you shouldn’t – it’s devastating. Despite ample evidence that trans people have existed in most cultures throughout history, and the medical consensus that trans people can live healthy, productive lives, many governments continue to impose barriers on trans people that can make it almost impossible to survive.

I filed a petition to change my name in January of this year. Even with some assistance from counsel, the petition took nearly four months to draft and file before I ever made it to a hearing before the court. The hearing and filings were public, and I had to pay fees for filing and posting a legal notice in a local newspaper costing me nearly $500. And, despite making it clear that I identify as female, and having two military psychiatrists recommend support for my transition, legally changing my name has no effect on the “legal” gender status that the government imposes upon me.

We’re banned from serving our country in the armed services unless we serve as trans people in secret, as I did.

Many trans people – especially low-income trans people of color – are also less likely to have access to legal counsel or healthcare because of discrimination. In situations like these, where civil rights are flaunted, the problem is not just inclusion or equal opportunities in institutions like government identification systems or voting – because such systems are inherently, if indirectly, biased to favor high income, straight, white, cisgender people. How can trans people change a system to which we don’t even have access?

A doctor, a judge or a piece of paper shouldn’t have the power to tell someone who he or she is. We should all have the absolute and inalienable right to define ourselves, in our own terms and in our own languages, and to be able to express our identity and perspectives without fear of consequences and retribution. We should all be able to live as human beings – and to be recognized as such by the societies we live in.